Why does Amerika support Israel so unreservedly? Amerika is, in parts, a deeply antisemitic country. But not just antisemitic; it is a profoundly racist, nationalist, and religious country. A hint: Amerikan support for Israel has nothing to do with the ”Jewish vote” or the "Jewish lobby". Both are massively overrated in terms of size or power.
After all, it did not take a huge effort for Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) to get an Amerikan audience to sing “Throw the Jew down the Well”.
Naturally, the US is now sending a missile defence system and troops to Israel. Oh well. Because, well, because Iran might fire more missiles at Israel, no doubt after Israel retaliates for the last bunch of missiles that Iran fired, in response to Israel killing their proxies in Beirut. If it sounds like this is a circular event caused by a previous event caused by the event before that, stretching back to an unknown “original” event, well, that is because it is.
And Amerika has taken a side, and while it is difficult to contemplate a situation in which the US did not “side” with Israel, there will be repercussions. No genocide will be too much. No school or hospital bombed will be one too many. No journalist assassinated for reporting about how Israel is treating Palestinians in the West Bank.
The unspoken reason the US (and Western Europe) “must” support Israel has nothing to do with the lie of supporting the sole democracy in the Middle East. It has to do with the alternative, which is the ultimate sacrifice of Israel to the Arab states that surround it, and the consequent destruction of (another core group of) the Jews.
The ”River to the Sea” is, on the one hand, a chant for Palestinian independence and recovery or their lands and right of return. On the other, darker side, it is a call for the “cleansing” of the land of Jews. A genocide. Of course, the Jews of Israel would be welcomed into Western countries, unlike the time of the Nazis, when those who could see what was coming tried to get out. This time, the doors would open. Certainly, the doors would open more readily for Jews than for Muslim refugees and economic migrants “breaking into” Europe.
The United States supports Israel for many reasons, but the overriding reason is internal Amerikan politics and the politics of racism.
Amerikan rednecks and religious nuts (so roughly 50% of the country) have grown up with their churches telling them that the bible says that the Jews are “God’s chosen people”. This provides a very difficult conundrum for the religious right evangelical and white supremacist congregations and individuals. Jews are, by definition, not good Christians, even if they are “white”.
Jews have set themselves apart, or been forced apart from the rest of society, for as long as there has been a Jewish Diaspora. Their apart-ness has enabled them to retain their culture and traditions, and to pass from generation to generation their religion and teachings. Throughout European history, Jews have been a necessary component of societies, mostly providing a community that could perform tasks or professions that others were either unwilling or unable to accomplish.
In country after country, Jews were excluded from full integration (and excluded themselves from full integration). Professions were closed, channelling them into other professions. Where they were not allowed to teach they traded. Where trading and shop owning was illegal, they provided legal services. Where legal professions were closed to them, they provided banking and money lending – as Christians were not allowed to charge interest, Jewish moneylenders provided the services required by kings, princes, and the wealthy and traders.
And always, they were segregated, by choice or by force or by culture.
Pogroms followed them everywhere, culminating in the greatest pogrom of them all, the Holocaust of the 1940s.
Jews in Amerika have been subject to the same discrimination as other minorities, and their historic retention of their cultural independence has meant the discrimination has continued. The Irish, by contrast, became “American” and through time and assimilation, stopped being a target of discrimination. The same has happened with the Italians.
The Blacks of Amerika cannot escape the historical discrimination and oppression simply because no matter how much they choose to integrate; they will always be visibly different from Whites. Prejudice based on the visible difference between individuals and cultures is deeply, I believe genetically, imprinted on all humans. This occurs purely as a gene-level protection of the “in-group vs out-group" from our ancestors when communities were rarely larger than 100 to 150 individuals. Anyone not known to the group would be suspect and treated as such.
Let me, at this point, state clearly that one of the objectives of “civilisation” needs to be to teach each person to look beyond and reject the biological and gene-level prejudices to make and support freer and more equitable societies. The role of education should, in part, be to teach acceptance and embracing of differences because it is right to afford all people equal respect. Only then can society function more smoothly and with actual equality. The rejection of prejudice is not only “good for society”; it is just and right for each of us to pursue. Discrimination and bigotry have no place in civilised societies.
Jews have retained their independent culture and traditions, some visible while others are internal, encouraging an in-group/out-group response at the biological level from those around them. I’m not making a value judgement on either. Should Jews integrate at the cost of their identity? Of course not. Should society allow a group within it to espouse and perpetuate behaviours that society has determined are detrimental to the whole? Of course not.
But that is not the world we live in.
White, Christian (in name, anyway) Amerikans are a pretty prejudicial lot. Assimilation is the only way toward acceptance, be that through the joining of their church or churches, common dress and attire, and the pursuit of common cultural activities and statements of support for cultural norms. This is the road to cultural integration on their terms, and any group that does not conform is subject to expulsion, nominally culturally but eventually physically, from the community.
The continued adherence to non-norms appears as a threat to the supremacy of the norm and, through that, a threat to the continued ability of members of the community to prosper. “They" are taking the jobs. "They" want to tax us to spend the money on “them” and the other’s priorities. And in a zero-sum-society, any money spent on “them” will diminish the value or benefit owed to “us”.
So where does that leave the Jews and “Amerikans”? Many Jews have assimilated, some to the point where their Jewishness is simply a historical marker and, in some cases, indeed only a genetic marker. But to many, aspects of their Jewish culture and religion remain a critical part of themselves and their families. And some of those markers are visible. Even if not visible, they are known to the community, by the synagogue they attend and the church they do not attend. Christmas decorations in windows versus the menorah.
And so, as with their treatment of other minorities, the White Christian would never (or very rarely) openly state that the Jews must leave, that they are not welcome, but they will happily think it and say it to each other. Jews are not welcome. Well, okay, if they are already here and they are providing services that we cannot otherwise access, sure, they can stay. But we will not encourage them to move here.
And after all, the “Jews killed Jesus”. This goes beyond simple in-group/out-group dynamics. Here, finally, we have the answer to why Amerika will support Israel no matter what. Amerikan “Christians” have been taught, and many grudgingly believe, that the “Jews are God’s Chosen People”. And good Christians do not oppose God’s will, and certainly not his chosen people. But do they really need to live here with us?
For Israel to exist and be the global home for the Jewish People is a solution that Amerikan Christians fully support. They support “God’s chosen people”, especially if they are “over there” in the Holy Land. That’s what they are taught on Sunday and by the preachers who want to control them (oops, help them live a life closer to Jesus).
Rejecting Israel is tantamount to rejecting God’s chosen people. And that is not what “Good Christians” do. Of course, since we don’t want them living here, having them all over there is a great solution. We get to be racist and xenophobic without being anti-God.
So how can Amerika be both antisemitic and pro-Israel? By being “pro-God’s chosen people” while also not wanting them in their own communities. Therefore, support Israel, but keep the Jews away from me.
And with God on their side, it would be foolish not to hedge your bets, especially if someone else’s tax money and someone else’s moral compass is offended.
Christians (or self-professed Christians) comprise a huge voting block and constituency across the US. While there are a plethora of issues that will bring them to the poles, no politician will risk being labelled as anti-Israel and, therefore, anti-God. The lengths politicians across the spectrum go to appear devout and “Christian” means that they cannot afford to break with Israel.
Even Donald Trump (#TRE45ON), that great paragon of Christian virtue, knowing full well that the Jewish vote will never be his, promises any and all support for Israel. Fully 70% of Amerikan Jews vote Democrat, and there is no electorate in which their numbers realistically represent a swing voting block. Meanwhile, 85% of White Evangelicals vote Republican. That is a voting block that no one wants to alienate.
Even Democrats will try to avoid alienating that voting block.
Every single Israeli politician knows this and exploits the evangelicals. When Netanjahu addressed the US Congress, he was not speaking to Amerikan Jews; he was speaking directly to Amerikan evangelicals. In effect, he was there to remind them that the Jews, embodied by Israel, are God’s Chosen People. He didn’t need to use those words. He could fluff it all up in sweet words about democracy (Israel) and terrorists (all Arabs), and civilisation and culture. What he really said, the way a mob boss might, was: “Nice electoral majority you have here; shame if something were to happen to it”.
One day, however, that won’t work. One day, the genocidal actions of the Israeli government will be enough to force an Amerikan administration to say “Enough”. Some day. But when that day comes...
